“Does iron float?” might seem to be in the same category as “Do pigs fly?” But don’t be too sure! We sometimes come across curious incidents in the Bible and wonder what they’re doing there. The story at the beginning of 2 Kings 6 seems to be one of those. The “sons of the prophets” […]
Silver, Gehazi’s plunder, pictures redemption in the Bible. Do we charge for God’s gracious gifts? We ended our last episode thinking about Naaman’s faith in God, evident on his return to Elisha’s house. He confessed, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel” (2 Ki 5:15). He wanted […]
Not a king; a prophet. Not a prophet; a servant. Not Abana, but Jordan—seven times! Down, down, down. Elisha had performed many miracles, but skeptics might doubt. Healing bad water with salt was unlikely, though they do use salt in water softeners today. Raising a dead boy? It looks like resuscitation to the doubter. But […]
You can see how Elisha’s care for the hurting and hungry reflects the gracious ministry of Christ. Elisha’s home was a place of hospitality. So we read that “a man came from Baal Shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley bread, and newly ripened grain” (2 Ki […]
This wasn’t just bad cooking! It was a case of bad practice—tossing in some mystery food! At Elisha’s base of operations at Gilgal, he interacted with a school of the prophets. In this episode, another famine had gripped Israel, perhaps a judgment from the Lord. “Now the sons of the prophets were sitting before him,” […]
There isn’t a boring page in the Bible. And surely miracles like this are nothing to sneeze at! Great women of God are up to great tasks. The Shunammite’s son has died in her arms. “And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him, […]
We don’t think of it at birth, but each baby comes pre-scheduled for a funeral. Thank God for eternal hope! Dealing with bitterness? Cast in the promises of God. Suffering from spiritual dryness? Expose the need to God—the more ditches, the more blessing. Or is it a sense of powerlessness? The Lord will show you […]
It defies common sense but conforms to heaven’s logic. If you need more, pour what you have on others. Chapter 4 of 2 Kings begins with a desperate woman. She’s a widow of one “of the sons of the prophets” whose husband “feared the Lord” (v 1). Obviously, fearing God doesn’t exempt you from trouble […]
Victory came when the grain offering was given (v 20), a picture of our being living sacrifices to God. Here’s the scene. Three kings have led their own troops into a trap. They’re in a desert with no water! Clearly, it’s always a bad idea to leave God out of the planning stage. Now, belatedly, […]